Bitcoin Forum

If we are having bank account with our name on that, and suddenly we die, what happens to our bank account then? Here's a guide to help you figure out where the money from a bank account goes after death so that you can make an informed decision about what you want to do in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mybanktracker/what-happens-to-your-bank_b_4860213.html

And then, what will happen to our bitcoin when we die?

I have a list of important passwords stored away in a safe for when I die.  This includes my coinbase account.   I will add my multibit password to the list too.  Thanks for bringing this up.

People that don't store their passwords for their loved-ones to find if they die, will have their Bitcoins vanished. They will allways be in the blockchain, yet never spendable. You reminded me to explain it to my wife (again) Encryption isnt really her thing ;D

It would be useless if your passwords just be laid in your safe, non bitcoin user cant understand it  :)

Atleast we have to mind this thing  :D  I think you should make a 'procedure to how open your bitcoin wallet and use bitcoin' for her.  :)

Then have you introduced bitcoin to your children? :)

Include the private keys in your will, and pass them to whoever you're handing down all your other money to.

only my family has access to my bitcoin at least those that are stored in a cold storage(of course with my permission), the other will be passprotected because inside my desktop, so at least the big portion will be retrieved

Right, just like the advice just try to fit in.... Or get a high paying job, yeah that's gonna make the world better.... Fit in in a deeply sick and twisted system...

My Bitcoin would go to my wife and child when I die when the private keys will be giving to them from my safety deposit box. I have already showed her how to import private keys and she knows the encryption so she will be good to go. The bitcoins will live on lol

My bitcoins will be in secured wallets and not spendable. So they are stored forever and decreasing the amount in the circulation  :D

Glad to hear you have introduce bitcoin to your family. My parents can't understand about it and I dont have wife yet. I think its an important thing for us, which if something happen to us, no one cant reach our money in the wallet forever.

What if you never spend your bitcoin and suddenly you wont have any chance again to using it?  :D  Do you let it stay there forever or have you passed your password to someone you believe?

Just like the money on our banks , it goes to my family . also why would anyone on earth care about anything if he is dead . they are free to enjoy the fiat / BTC however they want to .

wallets that only the owner can access and no one else will make bitcoin even more rare as there will be less coins in circulation. but then the next question: what happens with the fiat and coins stored on exchanges when something happens with the account holder?

think bitcoin like as your precious treasure ; you must back up your private keys in the stronghold ; after your death your children will got them..

If haven't thought before your die about your bitcoins they are lost. Or better remain deposited in your wallet in eternity. I don't know another way that those can be recovered except with the password of the wallet. So, good to know, put in a safe place all the kind of passwords and 2 factor auth of your wallet and inform about this your wife, your children or someone who you trust. Only in this way your bitcoins will be safe.

maybe you should leave a statement with the private keys but it would be hard to understand for someone that doesnt know even what bitcoin is

All my btc and ltc is in paper wallets and in a safety deposit box at my local bank. (Yeah I'm a bag holder)

My brother who lives locally is also on the card to open the safety deposit box should
I get hit by a truck or some such. Also I keep a book of all my passwords etc in there and my house purchase info etc and other important
docs in case my house burns down when away or some such.

Now that I've done all this what I suspect will happen in 30 years or so....is this:

I"ll be sitting in the old folks assisted living place by then......I will be informed that my bank was robbed and the safety deposit boxes were ransacked..and I will be like

'crap......millions come and millions go'.... :)


(its how my life rolls don't ya know) :)

anyway if the above happens or a meteorite takes out the bank it will just go to show the "asic miner gods" always hated me :) I also have the works sealed in a water proof pouch
in case the bank has fire issues or some such (sprinklers) :) Hopefully this should be paranoid enough..and yes these are my ONLY copies of the paper wallets nicely sealed etc

but again if the above paranoia is not enough well to heck with it .......fate just hates me at that point ....and I'll have proof :)

My bitcoins will go in the bitbucket. I don't have much anyway. :)

Well a good idea, if you have 2FA then you should say to him to not sell you phone immediately because of the information on it.

What will happen to your fiat when you die? If you tell your relatives or friends about all your wealth, they can get it. If not, it is probably lost. Same way, if you don't tell about your Bitcoins to another person, it is probably lost. If not, there is a chance for recovery. The difference between fiat stored in banks and Bitcoins stored in your wallet is that your close relatives can take your fiat money legally but to recover Bitcoins stored in an encrypted wallet/device, you need to tell the password to them or they will have to proceed with a brute-force attack.

You make plans and arrangements before you die as to who they go to.

If it's a brain wallet you can take it with you  :P

If your loved ones have access to your coins or at least you let them know how to access your wallet or something that will help them to get hold of your coins, you coins will be passed on them after your death.

But if they can access your wallet or has no idea about your coins, they probably going to be lost forever. :)

The bitcoin is then free to roam the web and frolic in the forums as nature intended

we should all make our wills and put our cold wallet passwords and private keys inside it just in case something happened so that all that money wont be lost

Same thing here....

If you leave no instruction on how to retrieve your coins in your will, they die when you die.

Nothing happens to those coins stored in your wallet, unless someone spends those coins.
You should tell your family members about the password(if you have any) and also teach them how to use Bitcoin.
I've written all my passwords of all my wallets and my btc accounts in a diary(the retro way).  8)

Then how your children know about bitcoin?

Thats why introducing bitcoin to people around us is important. Its okay if we only have few bucks in our wallet, but what if there are thousands bucks or above then.

It's completely up to you. You need to make sure that your coins are safe and reach the destination they should. So there are different ways to reach that. Simply think a bit about it and you might get some ideas.

Nobody is going to profitt from my death. Cold storage forever....

Actually having bitcoin is better than bank account in case of death. With bank account your family would have to go through formalities and bank can even snatch some part of your money.
With bitcoin everything is simple. If you trust your family and want them to have your bitcoin after your death you just share bitcoin wallet password with them. If not... well your coins die with you.

Theoretically if everyone who owns btc would do that what are you suggesting, the whole concept of btc environment would fall, there would be no trades, no buying, no selling, so nothing at all. Currencies are meant to go from one hand to another hand.

And this proves that you cant be your own bank.

The problem is everyone thinks he can trust, lets say, his own wife. The reality shows that wifes not seldom leave and often enough the poor man left behind did not have a clue about what is going on. Not every person is smart enough to see the little hints that show that something will change or show the true character.

Trusting might mean losing your coins at lifetime.

Only saying... Reality is risky ::)

The good thing about Bitcoins vanishing if no one else can ever access them is they simply shrink the total supply and therefore make existing Bitcoins more valuable, since those "vanished" Bitcoins are effectively the same as forever-holders.

Well, by telling this thing. You've just revealed your secret, so when you die someone will discover your treasure. :D

Some really great points being made in this thread and i appreciate the OP for creating it.
This is a topic that needs to be out there discussed, since everyone will have to deal with death eventually.

This subject got me thinking....wouldnt it be nice if you could purchase life insurance payable in bitcoin?

If im able to short term plan for my own death, i will liquidate all my fiat into BTC in an effort to minimize greedy banker fees or taxes being sucked away in my families time of sadness.

I'm broke. Problem solved.

Regards,
Me

Have you ever used Coinbase or similar bitcoin banks? It's really easy and I'm sure all people younger than use will be able to navigate the "old school" technology we use today...a username and password, access to the wallet, then directing the wall to pay the coins out to a fiat account or another wallet is REALLY simple. Coinbase probably has the process in their FAQ section.

What the hard part will for those using Coinbase is how to get past the 2 factor authentication. If the next of kin don't have the guy's phone, they can't verify their access to the account. SO, in a will or something the account holder should leave instructions on what to do, how to do it. And at worst, the next of kin could probably provide a death certificate to Coinbase and eventually get their hands on the bitcoin.

The general principle behind Bitcoin's use is that it is pretty easy!

Depends on what you do with it. You do what you want with your bitcoin, so as you die what you make of your bitcoin shall be.

That depend on how you store them. Anybody storing all their bitcoins under one private key or wallet type is not too cleaver.
A good mix of paper wallet, digital wallet is always to prefer. The paper wallet can offcause be spend by relatives.
It is a good idea to place all your password in an encrpted file, leave them on a USB drive(s) that would be find by your relatives, next ot the encrypted file you leave a password hint which is likely only close relatives can guess, or find. E.g. chiled hood streetname + name of first pet. This password does not need to be too strong, since the encrypted file will never be online, just to make sure that you will have enough time to change your pass words in case a burglar steals the UBS drive(s).

With BIP38 you can encrypt your paper wallets, it's easy and safe to store Bitcoins long term that way, even tho im too lazy to move my funds from my software wallet. It's been years like this and I never had any problem. I think as long as you keep your computer clean and you keep backups in a couple HDDs in case one fails it will be enough.

Any item you password protect will be in risk of being lost.
A simple concussion can make you forget even simple passwords.
For long time storage, you need to "back up" your brian.

or just write your password with a pen in a diary and leave it in your locker or in a safe place at your house.

Exactly, that is an great idea, you need to make aware to your near and dear ones that you are holding certain amount of bitcoins with you, and you can put all your wallet passwords into a will, So you don't have fear of loosing your password when you are alive, as your will and the passwords would be accessible only after you die  ;D

 Unless you set up some way for someone else to access your wallet, it will just poof for all practical purposes. NOT recoverable.

 

 ... UNLESS ....


 You leave your wallet running and someone manages to hack it after you die but before the machine the wallet is running on shuts down.

The middle of the living room table is probably the safest place. No burglar will look there. A locker or a safe is opened in seconds.

That is now thinking Mark Karpeles :D :D

Tomorrow I will go to the lawyer..... I'll order for shitcoin as "coincreator". ANN do here with a nice ICO to make a lovely funeral (with orchestra) :P

That is so true.

Before bitcoin become main stream, the stand burgular would not even know how a private key look like.
You can carve the raw key it in the wood on the backside of the table, would proberly be more safe than any digital solution anybody can come up with.

Yes it is better to share details with the people whom we trust, and who can take care of our hard earned bitcoins even if we die, I have already started my son to educate on bitcoins and he is also keen to learn new things, but yet I haven't shared my passwords with him, but would surely do in coming time, as If I die, he can take care of my bitcoins.

Just put your private key on a secure place and also put the explanation you wrote about how to redeem private key and how to convert it to fiat money and then tell your familly where your private key is been

That's true. The person with whom you share your details should be trustworthy and he or she should be from your family only. When it comes money or bitcoins cannot afford to trust any outsiders.

As for me I have share all my details with my sister, who was totally unaware about the bitcoins but now she is also involved in it and she can very well take care of my bitcoins even if I die soon  ;)

i think when we die
all of our bitcoin will be in our wallet and stat there until judgement day hahahaha ;D

It depends on your arrangements.

Essentially what happens when to the coins within your wallet is no different to what would happen today if you had simply lost access.

For now, I assume that I am the only one with access to my wallet as I haven't actively shared any details with anybody else. I would imagine that the majority of Bitcoin wallet holders are in the same position.

with bank you family use that money which you had in your bank before death or you have some other options like donations etc this is what happend with banks accounts after death where i live and ofcourse your bitcoin wallet have password if anyone know the password they can use the coin if not they will rest their forever

Why give a password or private key to anyone? It's just unsafe... Bitcoin offers another way to do this, the nTimeLock feature.

While you should have only a few Coins on wallets for everyday use (and for those few its fine if close ones know the password, since not a whole lot can be stolen), you could have your main stash in a Wallet with a secure password only you know.
Now you create an nTimeLock Tx which becomes valid in a year to an address and give said address plus its private key to your close ones together with the nTimeLock transaction. If you die now, they can, when the Tx becomes valid (with 1 year), get the funds. If the Tx gets stole, you move your coins in your main stash and create another nTimeLock Tx, making the initial one useless. Same goes if you dont want that person to get your Coins in case you die anymore.

This has many advantages other approaches don't have , e.g. if people raid your safe while you are not home, they won't get your Password or your private key. Also, laws regarding heritage that might require some portion of the money to be given to certain people simply cannot be enforced that way, since there is no way to get to the actual wallet.
This is a nice example of something that is only possible with a currency like bitcoin and will never be an option with a centralized currency.

well there are methods, deadman switches, or multisig, you leave one key with your wife and one with executor of your estate who gives the second key to the wife and then she can get the funds.  this assumes there won't be collusion between your wife and your lawyer.

By the time I'm dead we'll be able to upload our minds into a wonderful virtual world so I'll still be needing my coins. The rest of my relatives are minted anyway so they can whistle for it.

Once someone Find private key stored whit An explicit refer to bitcoin is not so hard,  i need to just Google it.

Yes this is my situation as well. I still haven't shared my private keys with anyone, even though my wife knows that I am in Bitcoin and how many I have and what they are worth. So I guess if something was to happen to me, God forbid, that she would manage with the help of someone.

Now this is what everybody should think of for the future, and to be honest, even I haven't thought enough about it. I guess I am too busy accumulating at the moment to think about this very important stuff! :)

Doesnt that flag work with a multisig address? So when you use it then you yourself could not access the coins too as long as im not mistaken. So i dont know how you will move the coins.

I already thought you wanted to write "you leave one key with your wife and one with executor of your estate who gives the second key to the wife and then she can get the funds. And they will happily live a life together leaving you behind without your coins." :D

I think that happens simply too often to be a good option.

If you trust your wife then the wife can get it, more persons involved could sometimes even raise the risk.

Yeah and then you sue the executor (law firm) for all your bitcoins plus
millions in punitive damages and file a complaint to have the attorney disbarred.
There's nothing a lawyer fears more than the bar review board.

"This happens simply too often?"  What?  Bitcoins are stolen by lawyers?  When?  Where? 

If you don't like using a trusted party, you need a dead man switch of some kind.

Suing would take years and you would be penniless while it was ongoing. Isn't there a way of sending a time locked transaction that locks your Bitcoins in a state they cannot be spent in for a specified lenght of time? You could probably use that somehow to make sure your wife would inherit your Bitcoins.

Yes you can but then you cannot spend them either.  And then what happens after the time expires but youre still alive?  If your wife has the key, she could
theoretically sweep them to a new address and you lose control.

im sure there is a way to properly do it, i just dont know the details.

I would assume the executor could handle his files accordingly. If not there is still the chance to go on an island.

Though it wasnt meant too serious. ;)

I trusted one of my girlfriends once with my codes and all but she is now my ex... so... But i think i wouldnt have given it to her when i wouldnt know she is honest.

Writing passcodes on some hidden place is still risky. I mean what do you do when you forget that you wrote it there. Accident for example? And if you die fast then you need someone anyone that knows everything.

I think securing bitcoin funds will be a challenge to future generations. Its simply so much different to be your own bank.

I think having an electronic will is a good idea if you plan in storing a good amount of BTC. The will should contain all information in order to get access to your BTC. You can have services such as Google Inactivity service and it will send an email after you are inactive for X amount of time.

Remember that Bitcoin is money so if you have people you love they should be able to spend them when you die.

actually it's a pretty good idea. why not have google run a deadman switch for you?  probably would be very reliable. you have it send your wife the multisig key and you keep renewing it annually.

I'm the official bitcoin collection officer, so you should send me your keys for safe keeping. :)

trusting a third party with your bitcoins is never a good idea.

you should protect them yourself at all times.

did you even read the thread?  How can you 'protect them yourself' when you're dead?

Are you drunk mate?
How are you supposed to protect yoour btc yourself when you're dead?
taking the private keys along with your body inside the coffin ?

I think the only good way to protect your btc is by inherit your btc password and private key to your family member as a will  :P

This is a good question and I have to say I never really thought about it until now, the money in our bank account gets forwarded to our nominee or to our closest family member like Wife, Mother, Father, Kids in case there isn't any nominee. But this can't be done with the Bitcoin because it's only you who are holding them so I guess I have to explain to my close family members that if I die tomorrow what they'd have to do to get hold of my bitcoins. I think I'll just explain them how things work and tell them where I store my encrypted paper wallets and tell them it's password, I trust them so I know they won't steal it and they can use it if I die a sudden death.

That's a very good question. But this depends a lot on how you handle your wallet. If you are careful about it and make sure you have an off-site backup of your wallet (or use a deterministic or paper wallet, etc) then you can easily pass your wallet and all the coins it contains to anyone you choose in the same ways that you can pass on other property. Of course if you're the only person with access to the wallet and have not planned anything then yes, your bitcoins will be "lost in the network."

since there is nobody else who control your bitcoin (like a bank) so we should think ahead about any sort of incidence that might happen. for example writing private keys on a piece of paper and keeping it in a safe.

For example, look at the addresses of satoshi nakamoto, I'm pretty convinced that he is dead.

So if you do not leave a will with private keys, bitcoins are still, right there

That is the one thing and other is that we can guide about bitcoins to our family members, so that even in our absence they can take care of our coins, and it won't get lost forever, so it is very important to share details with family members.